Underground
by Red Tigress
Summary: The Avatar has been missing for two days. (Lin-centric, slight mentions of non-consensual drug use, SPOILERS for season 2.)


_Written for "All the Single Ladies" challenge at The Beta Branch. _

Lin Bei Fong sank down warily at her desk. Ever since the opening of the spirit portal, her department had been up to their eyeballs in...not crimes, exactly, but disturbances. Spirits and humans hadn't lived together in thousands of years. It was going to take more than a few weeks for them to learn how to do so again.

Just this morning, she and two other detectives had tried to catch a spirit that was vaguely weasel-shaped and drunk after it had been caught in one man's wine cellar. Immediately after that, they had tried to gently remove a spirit the size of a bear sitting in the middle of an intersection. It didn't talk, and Lin was never the most patient person. Her detectives had tried to stop her (to no avail) as she whipped the metal cables from her back around the spirit, lifting it up. She had wanted to hurl it, but at the look of dismay on her officers' faces, she had placed it gently on the sidewalk where it continued to stare at her.

She was going to need to assign someone who was not her to be in charge of the spirits-only division. She did not have the temperament to keep this up for much longer.

The door leading into the office banged open loudly and she couldn't keep the low growl out of her throat. She looked up, making sure a look of extreme violence was plain on her face, when she caught sight of the guest and her look instantly softened.

Mako didn't work for her anymore, but as a member of "Team Avatar" (a name they'd given themselves, she had not sanctioned it in any way), he was generally welcome. No one had done more to help calm the spirits and them live with humans again than Korra had.

Instead of growling at him, She gave Mako a flat look when he got close to her desk. "Something I can do for you?" she asked dryly.

Mako had an intense, urgent look on his face. "I need to talk to you," his eyes darted around the precinct, some of the officers watching them. "…privately," he added.

She nodded, standing up and leading them into her private office. Once they were inside, he shut the door behind them and she crossed both arms over her chest. "Now, what's this about?"

"Korra's been missing for two days," he said.

She raised an eyebrow. "That's not unusual. It's a big city, and she's been doing a lot of work-"

"No," he said sharply. "She's pretty much always with me, Bolin, Tenzin or Asami. We make it a point not to go alone, after Amon. Something _she_ made us do. When she does go by herself, she at least tells Tenzin, and also when she'll be back. She was supposed to check in last night, but she never did. Tenzin's out himself looking for her."

"I see," Lin said quietly. No wonder Mako hadn't wanted to divulge this information in front of the precinct. Much of the city was already up in arms about what they considered "forced living conditions" with the spirits, and if news of a missing Avatar got out, there would be riots in the streets. She glanced at Mako again, knowing he instantly understood. "Any leads?"

Mako walked over to the map of Republic City on her wall. He pointed to the Northwest part. "She was going here, because none of us had been there to do spirit work in about a week. She was going alone, because they're…sort of weary of authority around there." Lin nodded. That quadrant of the city's affiliation with gangs was common knowledge, especially to her. "Tenzin is here looking for leads now," Mako pointed to one neighborhood, "And Bolin and Asami are trying to get in touch with some of our old Triad contacts here."

Lin rubbed her jaw in thought, staring at the map. "Do you have any idea what any of these gangs would want with Korra?"

Mako shrugged, looking apprehensive. "They all saw what she did. They're either afraid or…they want to use her."

Lin snapped her head up. "How would they expect to do that? No one can control the Avatar."

Mako shook his head. "I don't know. It's just what I heard. I don't know anything else." He deflated, sagging against the door to her office despondently.

Lin walked over to the coat rack, shrugging into her over-size wool coat that would keep her uniform mostly hidden. She had modified it so that she could still use the backpack underneath without obstructing the metal. In a rare display of kindness, she put her hand on Mako's shoulder. "You've done a lot, Mako. Let's see if we can't find our Avatar."

Two hours later, Lin found herself concealed in the shadows of a building across the street from a lighted, noisy restaurant. The restaurant was a front for the Triad and authority wasn't welcome there. Most of the guys inside knew the police on sight, so Lin stayed away, waiting for any of a number of higher-ups to finish their drinks and leave for the evening.

She didn't have to wait too long before a member she recognized as one of the guys in Lightning Bolt Zolt's posse stumbled out the door, a pretty girl hanging off his arm. She narrowed her eyes as they meandered down the street, laughing loudly. She followed about a block behind, sticking to shadows and ducking into doorways to avoid being seen. She didn't think so much she'd be spotted by them, but there were plenty of people around constantly on the lookout for non-Triad members. She did stumble into one about three blocks away, but he had his back to her. He was watching her target go by when she snuck up behind him and wrapped his arm around her neck, covering his mouth and nose with her other hand.

He sank to the floor, unconscious in a matter of seconds, and she pulled him behind a nearby dumpster. Not her preferred take-down tactic, but Lin could be subtle when the situation called for it.

About six blocks away, the couple stumbled down a side street. Before she followed, Lin lifted her foot off the ground, flicking her ankle as she did so. The metal plates that made up her boot slid back over each other, and she stomped her foot into the ground.

The feedback from the ground was immediate and felt infinite. Her range was only about a mile, but she was suddenly seeing everything in that mile that touched, ran through, or split open the earth in three dimensions. She "saw" the blueprint of the city blocks, where each building's footprint lay, and the sparse Saitomobiles that drove over the street at the late hour. She could see the people who were standing on the first floors of any buildings, but they were too numerous to count. She saw her target slowly moving down the street with his date, and she breathed a sigh of relief when she didn't see anyone else outside down that street.

She let out the breath she was holding and opened her eyes, the metal plates sliding back into place around her foot. With a quick look down the main street to make sure she wasn't being followed, she dashed to the shadows of the side street after her target.

Lin swung both her arms forward, the metal tendrils shooting forwards from the mechanized devices in her wrist. They wrapped around the man's waist. He cried out briefly before Lin swung both arms sideways. He slammed into a wall, before he fell to the ground moaning. Lin eased the muscles in her forearms and gave her wrists a small flick. The metal cables receded back into her coat. She walked over to where the man was moaning on the ground, pausing briefly to look over her shoulder at the woman who was cowering in fright.

"Go home," Lin growled. The woman didn't argue, instead turning to sprint back up the side street.

She walked over to the Triad member, lifting him up by his shirt and slamming him into the wall. "What do you know about the Avatar?"

He groaned again, blinking rapidly as he tried to focus. His eyes found her scars, then her eyes, then widened in sudden realization. "L-l-l-l-ook," he stammered. "I dunno nuthin about the Avatar!"

Lin yanked him off the wall, pulling him close to her face. "Wrong answer." She shifted her stance, ready to slam him into the wall again.

"Wait!" he barked out. She pulled him close again, waiting. "I, uh…I uh may have heard somethin'…about a…guest…" his eyes shifted nervously.

"Where."

He gave her the address, and Lin dropped him to the ground. She left him there, knowing he wouldn't report her to anyone, and also knowing he wouldn't tell his bosses. That sort of thing could get you killed out here.

She reached the building he had indicated, using her Earthbending to determine how many people were inside. There were only a few on the first floor that she could "see", but there was a subterranean level that had five or six people. One person was sitting on the floor against the wall, with some sort of metal interference around them. Lin frowned. Chains, probably.

She opened her eyes and stood up straight, centering herself.

The first two men in front of the door were unprepared as Lin kicked it inward. The metal door screeched as it bent, slamming into the men and throwing them into the wall where they were trapped. Her brain registered the whine of something electric starting, and she pivoted on her right foot 90 degrees. A man with an Equalists' electric glove flew by her, and she stomped her heel into the ground making the floor erupt right in front of him. He soared into it head first.

She paused, arms up, waiting for another attack. When none came, she moved to the stairs. She peeked down into the basement below, seeing a few men and a woman sitting on some crates playing cards. Another man and woman were standing over someone chained against the wall. Lin saw a distinctly brown fur boot and loose, blue pants she knew to be Korra's. They weren't moving.

Lin took another deep breath, thinking about how to take the seven people out in the quickest, most possible way.

She sprinted down the stairs and just as the men are looking up from their game, she swung both arms forward. The metal cables whipped from her hands and wrapped two around the waist. She slammed them into each other, and then rolled to the side as a lightning bolt from a firebender shot her way.

She swung her knees over her head then used the momentum to flip herself up and land on her feet. As she did, two pillars of earth burst through the floor at an angle from her, hitting the firebender in the chest. He let out a huge _whuf_ of air, before crumbling to the ground, holding his ribs.

She let out a grunt as a blast of ice knocked her back into the stairs. She tried to push herself up, but then realized the ice was wrapped around her forearm and the bannister, pinning her. The waterbender who had done it began to circle his arms but before he could finish the move she stomped the ground again. A boulder the size of her head shot up and she kicked it with her heel right into him, toppling him over.

She turned slightly and brought her hand down in a wedge formation on the metal railing, snapping it. She tore her arm free and rolled forward again as the second firebender in the room punched two flames at her. Lin snapped both elbows together, bringing up a rock wall. The flames flew to either side of it, dispersed, and she slapped her palm against the wall which propelled it forward. She heard a cry as the woman she was fighting crashed into the wall where her fellows now lay, unconscious.

The last two people in the room, Korra's guards, both attacked her at once and silently. One swung her hand at Lin's side, but Lin used the metal cables to whip away her hand, leaving her off-balance. The man came at Lin's back, but she pivoted slightly and he missed. He recovered quickly, leaning forward and snapping his leg towards her face. She crossed her arms, catching the kick, and he grunted slightly when his foot met the metal cuffs she wore.

The woman had recovered though, and kicked Lin savagely in the back of one of her knees. It collapsed underneath her and she sank to the ground. She whipped both arms around her, and the cables blurred around her like a tornado, forcing both opponents back. The woman came at her first, rolling under a cable easily and leaping to her feet, but Lin caught her throat in one hand. Unfortunately for her, her mask and neck armor were metal, and all Lin had to do was squeeze before she was a choking mess on the ground.

The man leapt in the air, preparing to bring his leg down on Lin in a crushing blow. She rolled out of the way, the knee that was kicked flaring up in pain. She got to her good knee and whipped the cables forward again, catching the man in the air. She threw him into the ceiling and threw him on the ground. He moaned once, then was still.

Wincing, Lin got to her feet. She looked around to make sure the gang was all incapacitated, which they were, before moving to the lone figure dressed in blue against the wall.

Korra hadn't stirred once during the fight.

The Avatar's head was down, and Lin kneeled down to get a better look. She lifted Korra's head. Korra's face was flushed, her eyes half-open. Her pupils were dilated wide, and rivulets of sweat ran down her forehead. Lin's eyes traveled to one of Korra's arms, held up in shackles above her head, and wasn't at all surprised to see needle marks there.

So. They had been keeping the Avatar drugged in order to control her. Wonderful people.

Lin angrily tore the shackles away, and Korra collapsed into her arms with a low moan. Drugs were certainly not new in Republic City, but injecting them straight into the blood was. Lin had already seen too many people torn apart by it. She knew some healers that could help but she hoped Korra hadn't been exposed to too much in her relatively short stay.

Upon feeling the human contact, Korra stirred slightly and mumbled.

"Don't worry, I'm going to get you out of here," Lin assured her. Korra mumbled something again, and wrapped one arm weakly around Lin's waist. Lin pulled her closer and stood up. Korra's legs dragged, making it hard to carry her, but Lin did slowly and assuredly.

Korra had been in the hospital for a full day. Tenzin, Bolin, Asami and Mako had refused to leave her side as she recovered, wanting a friendly face to be the first thing she saw. Lin had to return to work, but at one point before she left, Tenzin had taken her aside quietly.

"Thank you. For everything. I don't know…" he trailed off, and Lin wasn't surprised to see tears forming in his eyes. Tenzin had always been the type who cared deeply. That was one of the reasons she had been attracted to him years before. "Korra's like one of my own daughters."

They both looked back at the Avatar, lying still in her bed. Bolin looked tired, as he pet his ferret calmly in his lap. His brother had both hands clasped angrily in front of his face and was staring at Korra as if willing her to wake up. Asami was sitting sorrowfully next to him. Lin empathized with them all. They only had each other, no one else. They couldn't afford to lose one of their number.

Tenzin turned back to Lin, looking uncertain. "Lin…"

The tone of his voice was earnest, and she crossed her arms in front of her chest, waiting. His hands clenched into fists, a rare moment of raw emotion on display in the normally controlled man. "I don't normally ask things like this…but I want you to find out who's responsible. I want…" he trailed off, unsure of how to continue. "She's just a girl," he whispered.

"No," Lin shook her head softly. "She's a woman. And stronger than any of us. She'll pull through this, Tenzin. She always does." Lin smiled, offering a hand on his shoulder. He smiled slightly back. "Be there for her."

Tenzin wiped a hand at his eyes, and gave Lin a smile. "Yes. Yes, of course I will. Thank you Lin. I don't thank you enough for everything you do for this city. For her."

Lin gave him another smile, dropping her hand from his shoulder. "I think for her, I'd do pretty much anything." She turned to leave, but then looked back at Tenzin. "Besides, I think my mother would kill me if I didn't."

That startled a small chuckle out of Tenzin.


End file.
